Last month, the U.S. Department of Labor cited Chicago-area Sunrun Installation Services Inc., a solar panel and battery storage company, for two repeat safety violations after investigators found workers exposed to fatal fall hazards twice in three months.
Investigators with the department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration observed Des Plaines, Il-based Sunrun Installation Services Inc. employees working without required fall protection while installing solar panels at two residential homes in the Chicago suburbs.
The citation cited the first infraction in Oak Park on June 18, 2024, and another in Skokie on Aug. 8. OSHA noted that falls from elevations are the leading cause of fatal and serious injuries in the construction industry. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, roofers are particularly at risk.
OSHA proposed $288,087 in penalties; the company was previously cited for similar violations in Massachusetts in 2022 and New Jersey in 2023.
"It is unacceptable that Sunrun Installation Services Inc. allowed workers to be exposed to falls at two separate locations within weeks,” OSHA Chicago North Area Director Sukhvir Kaur said in a Dec. 18 news release.
“Sunrun must take immediate action to ensure no employee works at heights above six feet without using required fall protection; employers who ignore their obligations are putting their workers' lives and well-being in serious risk.”
Founded in 2007, Sunrun Installation Services Inc. designs, installs and analyzes solar panel systems and provides maintenance services to small and medium businesses, the federal government, agriculture and cold storage, and the retail and distribution sectors. Its corporate headquarters are in San Francisco.
BLS reported 1,069 on-the-job construction worker fatalities in 2022; 395 of those deaths were fall-related. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that falls caused about 20,000 worker injuries annually between 2013 and 2022.
